The National Security Bureau must pay NT$100,500 to a political advocate who was forcibly removed from the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade for displaying a banner that read “Taiwan,” the Taipei District Court said on Friday.
The incident at the Universiade’s closing ceremony on Aug. 30 that year involved From Ethnos to Nation member Chen Yu-chang (陳俞璋) and six soldiers of the Military Police Command, court documents showed.
Chen told the court that he was trying to display a banner that read “Taiwan” when plainclothes officers emerged and forcibly took the banner from him.
He demanded that the officers explain their actions, but they wrestled him to the ground and arrested him, he said, adding that the incident took place during the live performance of God Bless Taiwan (眾神護台灣) by rock band The Chairman (董事長樂團).
Chen filed a lawsuit seeking NT$750,000 in compensation from seven government agencies, saying that the military police had used excessive force and infringed on his right to free speech and private property.
Other agencies listed in the lawsuit included the National Security Council, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Police Administration and the Taipei City Government.
While the National Security Council and the bureau did not dispute the events of the incident, they argued that the military police acted properly, the court documents showed.
Other organizations named in Chen’s lawsuit argued that they should not be held responsible for the decisions of the bureau, which was in direct control of the military police during the Universiade.
The court accepted Chen’s argument that flying a “Taiwan” banner was not a political or ideological act in the context of an international athletics event, presiding Judge Chen Hsien-te (陳賢德) wrote in the verdict.
Athletes from more than 100 nations took part in the Universiade, including those from China, and it is “puzzling” that the bureau would consider the banner offensive, he wrote.
As the bureau was in command of the military police, the other agencies do not share responsibility or liability in connection with the case, he added.
The court ordered the bureau to pay Chen Yu-chang NT$500 for medical expenses and NT$100,000 as compensation for his pain and suffering.
The verdict can still be appealed.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS